Ireland’s grocery retail market has seen its biggest growth since January according to the latest figures from Kantar Worldpanel.

The figures, which deal with the 12 weeks ending 18th June, show there was an increase in the overall volume of sales of 4.6%. The sector grew by €80m during the period, which is a 3.5% increase on the same period in 2016. Deflation remained consistent over the 12 weeks at -0.2%.

According to Kantar, the average price of goods are down but customer have been making the most of the lower prices by adding more to their baskets each time they make a supermarket trip, a key driver of the recent growth.

Another reason behind the upward trend in sales is the investment made by retailers into own brand product lines. Within the sector, the overall sales of private label or own brand goods are up by 4.2% and currently account for 54% of grocery spend, the highest percentage since March this year.

In terms of market share, SuperValu remain in the top spot with 22.3% of the grocery retail market share. Tesco remain in second place but managed to close the gap between itself and SuperValu to a tiny 0.2%. Tesco grew ahead of the market in the 12 weeks at 3.8%.

Dunnes Stores remain in third place but were actually the strongest growing retailer in the period, increasing value sales by 4.5%. Despite a drop in shopper numbers, the retailer’s existing customer are shopping more often and spending more, on average an additional 10%. Customers average spend grew to €44.50 in-shore.

Of the discounters, Lidl and Aldi have both enjoyed a strong performance over the past 12 weeks, holding market share at 11.7% and 11.2% respectively. Both of the German retailers saw growth during the period with Lidl’s growth accelerated to 3.3%. Aldi remained just ahead of its closet rival at 3.7%..